This week, for the first time in 1986, a foreign artist has taken over the No. 1 spot on the American pop charts.

That artist, of course, is the Austrian rock star Falco, whose dance track "Rock Me Amadeus" was a huge hit recently in Europe and now is the No. 1 song in the U.S. after just eight weeks on the charts.

That statement would have been impossible a year or so ago, when the U.S. charts were being dominated by such British acts as Wham!, Phil Collins, Tears for Fears and Simple Minds. But the last few months have seen quite a resurgence by American artists, starting in early December with the L.A. group Mr. Mister, whose "Broken Wings" took over the top spot from Collins' "Separate Lives."

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